HUXLEY – Trey Nelson isn’t the type of runner that is going to sit back and let a race come to him.

He only knows one way to go – on the attack. And, so far at least, it’s paid off pretty well.

With a striking similarity to the way he took off near the front of the field at the Lynx Invitational earlier this month, the Webster City junior took the lead for his team in the first 500 meters at Monday’s Ballard Invitational at the Ballard Country Club. The difference this time was that he never really fell off the pace.

An aggressive approach and a steady pace enabled him to stay inside the top 20 in the Class A field of 72 runners on the breezy and warm evening. He coasted across the finish line in 18:31 to place 16th.

“I thought Trey Nelson did a really nice job,” WCHS head coach Tony Bussan said. “He blended the effort at the Lynx (Invite) where he went out too fast with a more sustained and more even pace. It was a good race for him.”

He was one of three WCHS runners to break 19 minutes, as the squad placed fifth against a loaded field with 146 points.

Third-ranked (Class 3A) Dallas Center-Grimes nipped sixth-ranked (3A) Pella by six points, 49-55, for the team crown. The two front runners each put three runners in the top 10.

Carlisle (80) and Winterset (123), both of whom sit just outside the top 15 (3A) in the most recent rankings, finished third and fourth, respectively.

Carlisle’s Jo Orput put some distance between himself and the other leaders down the homestretch to win individual gold in 17:08.

“Our boys made some progress as a team against a deep and high-quality field,” Bussan said.

With Nelson never far out of their vision, WCHS teammates Connor Foster and Tyler Bultena ran stride for stride over much of the five-kilometer course. Foster had a little extra push over the final 1,000 meters and came home in 18:45 to finish 22nd overall. Bultena (18:52) found the finish line just seven seconds later in 28th.

Freshman Dawson Hjelmeland (19:28) was 38th, as he continued to hold down the No. 4 position on the team. Kyle Porter (19:51), who competed despite being under the weather, pushed Hjelmeland over the first part of the race before eventually slipping back to 42nd.

“Kyle Porter is sick just like I am,” Bussan, who barely had a voice left following the meet, said. “But he stepped up and ran, and that really helped Dawson. So I give Kyle a lot of credit.”

In the Class B battle, top-ranked (1A) Nodaway Valley turned back challenges from No. 2 (2A) Garner-Hayfield/Ventura and No. 5 (2A) Eagle Grove to claim the team title.

Nodaway Valley (71 points) also took home the individual crown, courtesy of Shane Breheny (17:08).

Garner-Hayfield/Ventura (74) finished just three points back, while Eagle Grove (87) was behind by 16.

The Lynx John Brandt (19:57) turned in a solid 23rd-place showing in the junior varsity race, which featured nearly 300 runners. That performance was good enough to earn him a spot on the varsity roster for Saturday’s Carroll Kuemper Invite, which will be held at Swan Lake.